


It's Electric!

by Fatale (femme)



Series: Flash Bang #1 - Bingo (Team Green) [12]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Happy Ending, High School, M/M, Popular Magnus, nerd alec, no real drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 22:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14411721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme/pseuds/Fatale
Summary: He’s been shamefully head over heels for him since he first saw Magnus freshman year, and it’s only gone downhill from there.Bingo Square: Project PartnersTeam: Green---a high school au.





	It's Electric!

**Author's Note:**

> just for funsies. canon is bumming me out, man. i just wanted to write something cute and low drama. i know this isn't an accurate representation of high school: no coming out tropes here; magnus and alec are out and no one gives a crap. if anyone from the_shadow_world chat pops up in here, thank you all for your help in explaining american high schools to me!

 

  
“Cheer up, buddy, you’ll get your growth spurt,“ Jace says, frankly, a little condescendingly as Alec stands on his tiptoes, trying to reach the cereal on the top shelf. He stretches above Alec and pulls it down, handing it to him with a smug grin.

Alec shoots him the nastiest look he can manage while holding a box of Fruity Pebbles.

It’s remarkably unfair that Jace is younger than him, taller, and ridiculously, unrealistically handsome. Girls just fall all over his floppy blond hair, which is just okay, in Alec’s opinion. He’s always brushing it back out of his face and slumping in his chair like some kind of second-rate lothario.

It’s fine. He’s okay with being roughly the same height as his little sister. He’s okay with people’s eyes immediately passing over him to look at golden Jace or his little sister with her wide eyes and glossy hair.

He’s just--he’s good at the tuba, he gets good grades and has a hopeless crush on the school’s star senior, Magnus Bane. He’s been shamefully head over heels for him since he first saw Magnus freshman year, and it’s only gone downhill from there. Magnus owns the school. He’s athletic, he’s on the yearbook staff, prom committee, and drama club. He’s always surrounded by the most popular kids and Alec is the short kid with the permanently hunched shoulders from carrying around a tuba case; the guy that accidentally knocks other students' pencils off their desks, distracted by Magnus throwing his head back and laughing; the kid that fumbles with his milk carton and drops it on his pants and has to spend the rest of the day looking like he peed himself.

Alec has glasses, a bunch of untidy hair that refuses to do anything except stand at attention, and dresses like a loser.

Some guys are into that, Izzy says.

Maybe there are, but Alec hasn’t met them. He would desperately like to.

 

\---

 

At school, Simon sidles up next to him, adjusting his keyboard, which Alec thinks is only marginally cooler than a tuba. On the social hierarchy of high school, Simon is scraping the bottom along with Alec, both tiny scared prawn toodling together across the ocean floor.

Three weeks into the new school year, and aside from the baby-faced freshmen scuttling by, nothing much has changed.

“Did you do the reading for English?”

Alec did do the reading, did it a month ago and asked for extra credit the first day of class, but there’s only so much he’s willing to confess, even to a fellow nerd. 

"Uh, yeah, I think so,” Alec says, distracted. At the end of the hall, Magnus is leaning against the lockers in the same cool-guy slouch that Jace perfected years ago. Once, Alec tried copying it, studying himself critically in the mirror, only to realize he looked like a hunchback there to scare the underclassmen.

Alec sighs.

Simon looks at him carefully, then at Magnus. “You’ve got to let go of your crush, man. He doesn’t even know you’re alive.”

That’s not strictly true. One year, Alec volunteered to be a set decorator for the school play Magnus was starring in. He didn’t do it just to be near Magnus; no, he _enjoyed_ painting fucking trees. He was crouched over one of the wooden cutouts, painstakingly applying green tempera paint, when Magnus tripped over one of his outstretched legs. “Oh! I’m so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t see you there.”

With wide eyes, Alec had stared at him, mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out. And wasn’t that just the theme of his life? No one saw him and even when they did, it wasn’t like Alec was anything special to look at.

That was the entirety of his Magnus story. When he recounted it to Izzy later, she just shook her head sadly at him. “He’s just a person.”

How to explain? Magnus wasn’t just a person to Alec. He was the epitome of everything Alec wanted to be, everything he thought he could never have.

“C’mon,” Simon says, grabbing Alec’s sleeve and pulling him down the hall. “If we’re late for class again, Ms. Bell is going to make us wear a funny hat and read Shakespeare out loud.”

 

\---

 

Second period is Physics, one of Alec’s best subjects. He actually tested out of the freshman class and skipped a grade.

It’s how he ends up in the senior class, which is just--if he felt out of place with juniors, he might as well be floating in space here. Even though he logically knows that they can’t be more than a year older than him, they all seem so grown up. Most of the boys _shave_.

Of course, Magnus sits directly behind him, chatting quietly with a couple of girls that Alec can admit are gorgeous. He's always wondered if he’d ever get used to it, the way his heart thuds every time he sees Magnus, the way he can feel a flush rise on his cheeks. Probably not; he’s going to have to go on blood pressure medication and move to Alaska.

He feels his soul leave his body when the teacher announces they need lab partners, and he’s going to be paired with Magnus.

Alec slides his book bag under the table and bites his thumbnail. Next to him, Magnus sits down. “Your name is Alec, right? That's what the teacher said?”

“Yeah,” Alec says, studying his nails with more concentration than they warrant. His hangnail is suddenly fascinating.

“You’re pretty good at this, huh?”

“I do okay,” Alec says, venturing a glance up. Magnus is staring down at him, amused.

“You skipped a grade, so I’m going to go with yes.”

Magnus knows his name; he knows some random factoids about Alec’s life. Alec feels like he might burst into tears at any moment. He chews on his pen like his life depends on it.

The teacher explains the experiment they’re going to do and hands them the ingredient list. “You get the top half and I’ll get the bottom?”

Alec nearly chokes on his pen. Eyes watering, he manages, “Yes, that sounds fine.”

Magnus goes to the cabinets and starts measuring out ingredients while Alec takes a minute to collect himself. Red alert, red alert, his brain screams. This is not a drill. He thinks of Captain Kirk setting foot on a new planet, slick as hell and hooking up with space babes. If Kirk can do it, so can Alec.

He gets up on shaky legs and heads to the cabinets where Magnus is finishing up his portion of the list. “Ah, there you are,“ he says, and as he hands over the list, their fingers brush. Alec clears his throat, is horrified at the squeak that follows.

“G-got it,” he says. “Go ahead and get started on the first couple of steps, and I’ll be back in a minute.”

Magnus grins at him, says, “Hurry back,” before going to their table and turning on the Bunsen burner.

It doesn’t mean anything, but Alec can’t get it out of his head the rest of the day.

 

\---

 

Alec was having a delicious dream about Magnus’ careful hands holding pipettes in what has to be the weirdest mismatch of erotic and mundane imagery since he stumbled across that internet video of people doing terrible things with fruit.

He rolls out of bed, realizing both Izzy and Jace let him oversleep, the assholes, and has to run his hands through his hair and settle a dry piece of toast for breakfast, which he stuffs into his mouth on his way to the bus stop, tugging his overly full backpack onto his shoulders. When he arrives at the stop, Izzy is filing her nails and Jace and Clary are arguing loudly ten feet away.

He knows Clary reasonably well and likes her okay, even though they’re in slightly different social circles. She’s one of the cool band members who parties with the jocks and cheerleaders on the weekends in the name of school spirit while Alec does the extra credit assignments he doesn’t need and plays Dungeons and Dragons with Simon in the basement.

“They at it again?” he asks Izzy, talking around a mouthful of toast. He should have taken his bike -- it would be faster, and he wouldn’t be subjected to this. As soon as he’s saved up enough money for a car, he’s leaving Jace's ass in the dust, so he can be gross with his-on-and-off again girlfriend on his own.

“Makes me crazy listening to them fight and make up,” she says too loudly, just to be a jerk. Alec grins.

Clary certainly seems to make Jace crazy, too. She’s petite and funny and has beautiful red hair, if you’re into that sort of thing. As if on cue, the arguing portion of their morning is over and then comes the making out.

It’s weird, but everyone’s used to it. It’s the closest thing they have to entertainment at 7 am. The bus pulls up, and Alec uses his backpack to smack Jace in the shoulder. He doesn’t wait to see if Jace follows him, and heads onto the bus, settling somewhere near the middle. Izzy sits across in the aisle from him, throwing her legs up on the seat.

“Hey, I heard you were partners with Magnus yesterday.”

“What? How’d you know that?” Izzy’s a freshman, for God sakes.

She shrugs. “I hear things.”

“It was just a random assignment.”

“You know he dated a guy once?” she says, leaning close, dark eyes excited.

Of course he knows; everyone knows. Still doesn’t mean Alec has a chance. “Whatever,” Alec says.

Izzy slumps back, disappointment written all over her face. “You guys didn’t even talk?”

“Sure, mostly about Newton’s Laws, but--”

“God, you’re so lame.”

It’s not like he didn’t already know it, but it still stings a little. “Yeah,” Alec agrees, looking out the window.

 

\---

 

The teacher announces the mid-break project and everyone except Alec groans. He’s actually been anticipating it, has put together multiple projects for it during the summer break.

He feels a light tap on his shoulder. “Want to work together again?”

“You want to work with me?” Alec asks, twisting around in his seat to look at Magnus, who is leaning over the table, fingers clutching at the sides, looking improbably handsome.

“I think it went pretty well last time.” It did; they were one of the few partners not to set their tables on fire.

Magnus holds out a hand. “Give me your phone, and I’ll put my number in.”

Alec could not possibly get his phone out fast enough. He fumbles it twice before handing it over.

He has to remind himself multiple times that it’s just for a school science project, the least sexy of all subjects, at least to most people. He’s probably the only junior who finds Planck’s Constant confusingly sexual. Then again, he’s a teenager -- last week, he accidentally popped a boner staring at a donut too long; it made for an agonizingly awkward breakfast with his family.

Magnus gives his phone back and a text pops up immediately from an unknown number: _hello, Alexander_.

Alec stares down at his phone and awkwardly crosses his legs.

 

\---

 

Waiting by the bus stop after school, he hears a horn honk, and Magnus leans out of the driver’s side window. “Want a ride home?”

Jace is at football practice, and Izzy has some project for class. Alec looks around to be sure Magnus isn’t talking to anyone else, but no one’s paying any attention, so Alec walks over to the car. “You wouldn’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I did,” Magnus says. His car isn’t anything special, but it’s miles better than Alec’s current options. Plus, it has the added benefit of getting to spend time with Magnus. Alec puts his tuba in the back seat and then slides in the passenger side, buckles his seatbelt nervously. It smells like gym socks and boy, and Alec honestly can’t get enough.

“Thanks,” Alec says a little breathlessly and gives him his home address.

On the way, Alec chews off all his nails and Magnus keeps looking over at him, small darting glances that Alec never really catches but feels all the same.

Alec says, “So, uh. You want to come over and work on the project?”

“It’s not due for three months,” Magnus says, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Yeah, right.” When will he ever stop being such a hopeless dweeb? Without even needing to see himself, Alec can tell he’s turning a dull, unattractive shade of red.

“But it wouldn’t hurt to get a jump start,” Magnus says easily and Alec knows he’s just humoring him, trying to help him save face, but he’s grateful all the same.

 

\---

 

It becomes a habit for Magnus to give Alec a ride on days that he doesn’t have band practice after school and stay to eat and do homework, holed up in Alec’s room while Jace stiomps through the house, leaving his jockstrap in gross places and Izzy texts the friends she literally left twenty minutes ago.

Alec and Magnus don’t always even work on their class project, sometimes stopping to play video games or just talking for hours at a time. It’s surprisingly comfortable, and Magnus is quiet and kind and thoughtful, miles different than what Alec imagined Magnus to be at the start of the school year.

One day, Magnus is fidgeting, growing increasingly frustrated.

“Something wrong?” Alec asks, looking up from his assigned English reading.

“I can’t get through Romeo and Juliet, not in any meaningful way. The language feels so opaque. It‘s like, as soon as I read it, it just slips out of my brain and I can‘t figure out what I was supposed to be getting from it.”

“Sometimes, when I’m having trouble, it helps to hear it out loud.” He gestures towards the book. “May I?”

Alec starts, “Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night / Give me my Romeo; and, when I shall die / Take him and cut him out in little stars / And he will make the face of heaven so fine / That all the world will be in love with night...”

When he lowers the book and looks over, Magnus is staring at him, unblinking.

Alec coughs. “Better?”

“Yeah,” Magnus says eventually. “Yeah, I think I understand now.” He touches Alec’s knees, fingers brushing lightly over the worn denim. “Thank you, Alexander.”

It feels super overdramatic to say so, but Alec kind of lives for these days.

 

\---

 

The following week, Alec’s going through the refrigerator looking for a snack. Or twelve. Their mom complains that they’re eating her out of house and home, but he can’t help it that he’s always hungry. His jeans, new at the beginning of the school year, are already too short. By graduation, they’ll be at his knees.

“Magnus is over doing homework a lot,” Jace says, hair still damp and falling into his eyes from the after practice shower.

“We’re doing a project together,” Alec says, distracted. Ooh, turkey. He grabs the turkey, mayo, tomato, lettuce, and bread and piles his bounty on the counter. “Sometimes he has other homework to do, too.”

“So, is he like, your boyfriend or something?”

Alec stays silent because he’s not sure how to answer. Magnus is his “something” no doubt, but he’s not sure what. He’s self-aware to know there’s a low thrum of crazy about him, but even he can’t delude himself into thinking a guy coming over to spend three out of five days with you for hours at a time is regular old bro behavior.

“You could tell me, you know," Jace says, shrugging a little, trying for nonchalance, but looking more like a kicked puppy. "We used to be really close."

It’s true. Ever since they both started high school, they’ve slowly drifted apart, each settling into their natural social circles; Alec’s at the very bottom, Jace seamlessly drifting in between the jocks and stoners.

The first day Alec left for high school without him, Jace cried, a fact that Alec likes to remind him of mercilessly.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Alec says softly. “But if there is, you’ll be the first person to know.”

Jace brightens a little and brushes his hair back. Alec rolls his eyes, and grinning, asks if Jace wants a sandwich, too.

Just to be a dick, he cuts it into crustless squares like he used to do when they were little kids.

 

\---

 

Studying in his room with Magnus, Alec pulls off his glasses and wipes them on his shirt, which Izzy says is a disgusting habit, but where else is supposed to clean them?

Magnus is saying something that Alec doesn’t catch, so he looks up, glasses still tangled in his shirt.

“Your eyes,” Magnus says, looking startled.

“Yes?”

“They’re--“ Magnus says and swallows. “You have two of them,”

“I’ve noticed,” Alec says dryly, rubbing the indentions they leave on his nose with one hand. “Did you need something?”

“Nothing,” Magnus says, dropping his gaze and tapping his pencil rapidly against his book.

“Okay, weirdo,” Alec says, slips his glasses back on and goes back to studying.

 

\---

 

Football season comes to a close and Jace decides to try out for basketball because he just can’t stop being a stereotype. He wheedles and whines until Alec agrees to come along, even though the orchestra is starting up and he‘s been guaranteed first chair, not that there’s a rash of tuba players at their dinky high school.

They arrive at the school gym, and Alec hates everything about it: the weird sweaty plastic smell, the thump of echoing basketballs, the bystanders waiting to laugh at Alec’s inevitable fuckups.

Jace and Alec warm up, run some sprints with the other hopefuls, practice dribbling and passing the balls back and forth like monkies on an assembly line.

Afterward, they take a small break, sitting on the bleachers and drinking bottles of water the Coach is passing down the line.

“Hey you, big kid,” the coach yells out. “You just going to warm bench or you want to try out?”

Alec looks around, confused, but the coach is definitely talking to him. It’s true that he’s grown a lot this year, but he’s never been considered big. Alec stands up and makes his way down to the center of the gym, mentally preparing himself for utter humiliation.

He gets into position across from what is, frankly, an alarmingly large and aggressive looking kid.

The ball is tossed in the air, and Alec jumps up, slaps it out of the other kid’s hand, and Alec is pretty sure he just made an enemy for life.

Alec follows the general direction the ball, watches anxiously as it changes hands, changes teams, and eventually gets thrown in his direction. Startled, Alec catches it. “Go, idiot!” he hears Jace yell at him.

In middle school, he regularly ran from bullies, so it’s something he’s really good at.

Before Alec knows it, he’s crossing the three-point line and the ball is swishing through the net. There’s a small smattering of breathless cheers from behind him, and Alec manfully resists the urge to check if Magnus saw him being awesome.

Jace catches him in a big hug, hoisting him up with a grunt. He’s not as easy to lift as he was six months ago, and Alec feels himself grinning widely as other players slap him on the back.

From the sidelines, Magnus watches carefully.

 

\---

  
Alec microwaves a bowl of popcorn and empties it into a big glass bowl. Even though she always complains that Alec would fall over without food in one hand for balance, he notices she begins buying more to accommodate Magnus. Since he joined the basketball team, they’ve had less time to spend together and he’s looking forward to spending the evening with Magnus.

In his room, he sets the bowl on the floor in between them. Magnus looks up and gives him a tight smile. He’s been quiet all evening, pensive. In the room next to him, Jace blasts his sad hipster music and Alec kicks the wall. “Sorry,” Jace yells out and turns the volume down.

Alec flops on the floor and grabs a handful of popcorn. Magnus takes some popcorn -- and Alec just loves how he eats it, one bite at a time.

“Did I ever tell you how glad I am that we became partners?” Alec asks around a mouthful of food, feeling warm and sentimental. Popcorn and good company always make him feel this way.

“You didn’t seem happy to be my partner,” Magnus says quietly.

“What?” Alec looks up, startled. “Of course I was. I practically jumped at the chance, couldn’t you tell?”

Magnus looks frustrated. “You’re kind of hard to read.”

“What?” Alec repeats, reaching up to fiddle with glasses he doesn’t wear anymore. He had to replace them with contacts for basketball since he was unwilling to wear the thick goggle-like prescription glasses the optometrist presented him with. His hands fall to his side a little uselessly. Alec hadn't realized how much he fiddled with things to avoid topics that made him uncomfortable.

“So stoic,” Magnus says a little teasingly, eyes searching. “I can’t ever figure out what you’re thinking.”

Alec doesn’t feel stoic. He feels transparent and ridiculous and deeply uncomfortable in his own skin. He can’t remember last week, but he can remember every embarrassing thing he has ever done in excruciating detail.

“I thought,” Magnus continues, “maybe you heard I was lousy at school.”

“You‘re always on the Honor Roll,” Alec says. “Everything comes so easily to you.”

“Alec, it’s just an act. I get good grades because I work hard. It doesn’t come naturally to me like it does you. I’m not that smart.”

He’s used to Magnus being gregarious, the life of the party, nearly six feet tall and larger than life. He’d blown Magnus up to some epic proportion in his head, and as it turns out, he’s just a boy -- a boy that Alec likes a hell of a lot. And honestly? Alec prefers him this way.

“Sure you are,” Alec says, touching the top of his hand. “You’re one of the smartest people I know.”

“Yeah?” Magnus asks, ducking his head in a surprisingly shy manner.

“Yes,” Alec says, heat blossoming in his chest.

 

\---

 

Over winter break, Magnus texts Alec daily. It’s mostly small observations, simple yes or no questions, but he must be getting stir crazy, because a week in, the jokes start.

Magnus: _What was the name of the first electricity detective?_

Alec: _I'm on the edge of my seat._

Magnus: _sherlock ohms_

Alec: _For fuck's sake. That’s just a word pun, it's not even clever._

It’s a little funny, Alec acknowledges. Who knew Magnus was such a secret nerd?

While he’s eating lunch and lying around watching movies with Jace and Izzy, he gets another message.

“It’s your boyfriend calling,” Jace says and burps.

Izzy smacks him on the arm, then burps louder.

“You guys are both disgusting,” Alec tells them, leaving the room to read the message, but not before yelling over his shoulder, “Isabelle, I expected better from you.”

“Sorry, Mom,” she says, not looking sorry at all.

The text waiting for him reads, _A neutron walked into a bar and asked, "How much for a gin and tonic?" The bartender smiled wryly and replied, "For you, no charge."_

Alec texts, _Where are you getting these from? And how can I make you stop?_

Later that evening, his phone chirps as he's pulling the covers over himself. He rolls over and checks his phone in the dark.

Magnus: _What did one quantum physicist say when he wanted to fight another quantum physicist?_

A minute later, Magnus follows up with, _Let me atom._

Alec texts back, _Go to bed, Magnus._

Ridiculous. Magnus is being ridiculous. But Alec knows there's a dopey grin on his face as he drifts off to sleep.

 

\---

 

The first day back, Alec wakes early. He pulls on a tee-shirt, surprised at how snug it is across the shoulders. He shrugs and slips a hoodie over it and hurries to catch the bus, slapping at the bathroom door on his way to let Izzy know to stop fucking with her makeup, it looks fine.

Ever since joining the basketball team, he’s been, not popular, but less invisible than normal. People look at him, wave, fist bump him in the halls. He’s not sure what to think of it. He still walks to his first period class with Simon, who regards it all with a bemused acceptance.

Magnus joins them in the hall. “Every time I see you, I feel like you’ve grown three inches.”

“That’s not possible,” Alec points out reasonably.

“Why are you always so literal?” Simon complains on his other side.

Alec shrugs. “It’s just the way I am.”

It’s true, and he’s mostly made peace with that.

 

\---

 

The following week, Magnus and Alec make their presentation and show off their model galvanometer to decent results. The class mostly pretends to get it, which is good enough for Alec. Their teacher seems really jazzed, though.

As they make their way back to their seats, Magnus says, “Guess we won’t have to get together any more after class.”

Alec feels his heart seize up. He hadn’t thought about that. Stupidly, he’d just assumed they’d continue to spend suspicious amounts of time together. He aims for casual and misses by a mile. “We could still study together. You know--if you want.”

Alec is staring down at his notebook so he doesn‘t have to face rejection head on. Generally, he feels the ostrich approach to life is greatly underrated, but he looks over when Magnus lightly touches his arm.

“I want,” Magnus says softly, eyes bright.

 

\---

 

Prom is coming up, which in previous years made Alec feel positively ill. He never liked anyone who would actually want to go with him, and no one liked him well enough to ask him.

Last year, he went stag with Simon and everyone else in band who didn’t have dates.

It was fun and he had a good time, but he’d spent most of it sneaking glances across the room at Magnus, laughing and dancing with his date, and feeling sick with envy.

  
\---

 

Magnus is tapping his fingers against the steering wheel on their way to Alec’s house. “Have you got a date to prom yet?”

“Yeah, no one’s ever been interested in me,” Alec says.

“Of course they have.”

“Who?”

“I--” Magnus says, flustered. “Alec, have you seen your eyes?”

“I stare at them every day,” Alec says. He’s honestly not sure where Magnus is going with this.

“They’re just--incredible. And you’re so smart and kind of shockingly funny in a mean way. There’s so much about you that’s great.”

Alec chews his bottom lip. “If I’m so great,” he asks quietly, “then why didn’t anyone ever notice me before I joined the basketball team?”

“I was always paying attention to you.”

“You didn’t even know my name when we first became partners,” Alec protests.

Magnus seems embarrassed. “I knew who you were. Trust me, I’d noticed you.”

“Yeah, you noticed I’m a great big loser.”

“No,” Magnus says, “I saw _you_.” He’s so close now that Alec can feel the heat coming off his body.

“Is it because I don’t have to shop in the little boy's section of the department store anymore?”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Alec says quickly.

“Did you know I miss your glasses?” Magnus murmurs, reaching a hand up to touch the side of Alec’s face. “I miss your tuba case. You used to show up to class every day with food stains all over your clothes.”

“How do you know that?”

“I told you, I’ve always seen you,” Magnus says.

“Stalker,” Alec says, and Magnus makes a funny noise. “Why didn’t you ever say anything before?”

“You’ve always done your own thing, playing Druids and wizards and shit in the woods. You never needed anyone’s approval. I don’t think you know how intimidating that is in high school.”

Alec, intimidating? With his glasses, his Dungeons and Dragons, his ill-fitting clothes, arms like limp noodles? He’s about as intimidating as an enraged Chihuahua.

Magnus’ face is close, close enough to kiss if Alec wants to.

And Alec wants to, wants it so badly he can barely stand it.

He takes in Magnus’ chipped nail polish, the small zit on his chin, the hesitant way he’s reaching out to Alec now and always has.

Alec says, “Jeez, I’m such a dope.”

“Yeah,” Magnus agrees, grinning, gloriously happy and so very handsome, “but I like you anyway.”

He says, “I think I finally see you, too,” and closes the space between them, pressing his lips to Magnus,’ soft and sweet. The angle is all wrong and there's a gearshift digging into his side, but as long as he lives, Alec knows it'll be the best kiss he'll ever have.

 

\---

 

Alec and Magnus decide to go to prom together, and his mom has to have the pants let out multiple times. He’s an inch taller than Magnus now, and several inches taller than Jace, which Jace just cannot let go.

Simon learns to play the guitar, gathering a notable following of young ladies that show up to every gig of his around town. He says that he and Alec are playing out some kind of revenge of the nerds fantasy, but Alec doesn’t think so. He’s just living his life, fucking _finally_.

He doesn’t know if he’ll do basketball next year or go back to orchestra. He’s definitely doing marching band and several of his teammates have expressed an interest, too. As it turns out, the best way to be cool is to not really give a shit about being cool.

“Want me to do your hair?” Izzy asks, leaning against the bathroom doorjamb.

“What?” Alec asks, looking in the mirror, confused. It’s just hair, isn’t it? It goes up or it lays down, but there’s not much he can do about it either way.

“Boys,” Izzy sighs, rolling her eyes. She grabs some hair gel and combs his hair, then steps back. Alec eyes himself critically in the mirror. He has to admit, his hair looks good. A little messy, but like he did it on purpose, not how it usually is.

“Thanks, Iz.”

“You look great,” Izzy says, eyes warm and fond. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Whatever,” Alec says, embarrassed. “Thanks, I guess.”

She grins wickedly. “Are you going to get lucky tonight?”

“Izzy!” Alec yells, scandalized. It’s not like he hasn’t thought about it; he spends all night and most of his waking hours thinking about it. He would like nothing more, but he doesn’t want to discuss it with his little sister.

Since they got together, he and Magnus make out behind the cafeteria by the dumpsters, in the back seat of Magnus’ car, tucked into the alcove beside the Janitor’s closet, and anywhere else they can squeeze in five minutes alone, Magnus’ hands wrapped firmly around his hips as he sucks bruises onto Alec’s neck.

They try to go to prom, get distracted, and only make the last half.

Izzy grins at him across the room knowingly as Alec tries to smooth down his hair and adjust his bowtie.

And Alec, dancing with Magnus, surrounded by tacky streamers and disco balls, feels like he’s already gotten pretty damn lucky in the very best way possible.

 

 


End file.
